Goldman Sachs has spent more than any other single investment bank lobbying the US government, in the year to last October, according to figures published by a Washington DC-based think tank, the Center for Responsive Politics.

Amid a wave of regulation either introduced or proposed, the US bank spent $2.68m on lobbying in 12 months to October 31 2012, according to figures published on the CRP’s website, opensecrets.org. Morgan Stanley came a close second, laying out $2.6m.

The US research group aggregates data from the US Senate’s Office of Public Records, and tracks all money spent in US politics.

Asset manager Blackstone spent $2.7m during the year, the highest figure of all buyside firms, while the biggest exchange spender was the Chicago-based CME Group, with $1.54m. Figures were also provided for secretive high-frequency trading firms, which use their own capital to trade across markets in fractions of a second. The New York-based Hudson River Trading spent $360,000, opensecrets.org disclosed.

The biggest spenders, however, were industry associations. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, which represents Wall Street, spent $4m.

Capital market participants are facing a long list of new regulations including more stringent capital requirements and an overhaul of the over-the-counter derivatives markets.